


A Chelm-chilla Table

by DWEmma



Category: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Hamster Princess Series - Ursula Vernon, Jewish Scripture & Legend
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22943950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DWEmma/pseuds/DWEmma
Summary: Harriet has to go get a table her mother wants for Shabbat. This is not a very fun adventure.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5
Collections: Purimgifts 2020





	A Chelm-chilla Table

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gammarad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gammarad/gifts).



Harriet Hamsterbone was bored. She couldn’t remember the last time she had fought a monster, solved a conundrum for another princess, or even dove off a cliff. (It had been two and a half days ago, but who was counting? Certainly not Harriet. She was too bored to count.) 

“If you’re so bored,” said Harriet’s mother, who was getting the preparations ready for Shabbat and was tired of listening to her daughter moan, “I have a task that you can do for me.” 

It’s important to state here that Harriet’s family had always been Jewish, but it just didn’t come up in any of her previous other stories. 

“What do you need me to do? Does it involve fighting off some horrible beast? Oh please let it be something I can do with my sword!” exclaimed Harriet. 

“I need a table. We keep it at our summer palace, but it’s the perfect table to place the candles and challah on for the Kiddush. I’ve been doing without it all winter, but I miss that table. Will you go and bring it back for me?”

“Is it an enchanted table that I will need to break a curse over to bring it to you?” said Harriet, sounding less excited by the task than she had before. 

“It’s just a table, Harriet, but maybe Wilbur would want to help you get it?” 

Harriet sighed, very much wanting to get the table for her mother, but wishing that the table itself were a little bit more exciting. “I will get you the table, if it’s the last thing I do.” 

“If you don’t get moving, it will be the last thing you do before the sun sets, Harriet. Scoot.” 

* * *  
Wilbur had been helping his mother with their preparations, so Harriet and her trusty riding quail Mumfrey headed to the summer palace. 

And had no adventures along the way. No seriously, no adventures. They didn’t run into anyone in need of rescuing, they didn’t hear stories of dastardly deads being committed, they didn’t even find a giant beanstalk that needed climbing. Not anywhere was there the call to adventure. Just a summer palace. And a table, which Harriet soon realized would be very hard to move without Wilbur or any other rodent’s help. She tried strapping it to Mumfrey’s saddle, but it wouldn’t balance properly. Finally she just decided to do her best, and carry the table in her hands the best that she could. 

She made it about 200 inches down the path (she’s a hamster, so that’s nothing to sneeze at) before her arms started to get tired. She placed the table down for a moment, and looked at it. She then sighed, picked it up, and made it another 200 inches before giving up. 

“Listen, table,” yelled Harriet, “This is a pretty neat deal you have here. You have four good legs, and I have…okay well, I have four legs, since I’m a hamster, but at some point in history my lineage became rather anthropomorphized, so my front legs are more like arms there days and…well that’s not the point. Here I am walking on my back legs carrying you like a chump, while you just lazily don’t use any of your four legs at all.”

She walked along the path ahead of the table, and then looked back to scold it. “Table! My mother needs you in the palace tonight. You need to use your legs to follow.” And she walked onward, not looking back, trusting that the table would do its job. 

Mumfrey sighed and cooed dismissively. He plucked the saddle off of his back, used his beak to strap it to the table, and picked up the table by the saddle in his strong beak, and followed Harriet down the path. 

When they got to the palace, Mumfrey put down the table and pulled the saddle off of it right before Harriet turned around. 

“Good job, table!” Harriet exclaimed. “You see, Mumfrey, all it needed was the proper motivation.”


End file.
